Achieving increasingly smaller line resolutions in semiconductor photolithography requires exposure tool systems with increasingly larger numerical apertures. As the numerical aperture increases, light transmitted through the lens illuminates the semiconductor wafer at Brewster's angle, which prevents light polarized parallel to the plane of incidence from coupling to the photoresistive material on the wafer. Conventional photolithography systems use unpolarized, circularly polarized, or linearly polarized illumination. In the case of unpolarized or circularly polarized illumination, interference of electrical fields exacerbated by Brewster angle effects can lead to a significant reduction in contrast for the resulting photolithographic image, decreasing the resolution of the system. In systems where light is linearly polarized, significant contrast loss may prevent geometry from being printable on the wafer.